June 5, 2021

"This is one of those where I read the title and went 'I can't imagine how you could not be the asshole' and then read the post and went '....oh.' "

"NTA. I am not normally a scene-making person, but this is the kind of thing that making a scene is for. I am not normally one for publicly shaming someone but this is what public shame is for. Sometimes someone's behavior is so far beyond the pale that the kindest and most righteous act for everyone else involved is to make a goddamn scene."

Top-voted comment at "AITA for telling my SIL no [one] cares that she’s pregnant" at the subreddit "Am I the Asshole?"

3 comments:

Ann Althouse said...

Temujin writes:

"The utter lack of empathy on display by the newly pregnant woman is astonishing. Yes, I know we live in an age where everybody thinks they're a star and they want to be sure they're noticed- all the time. Does the word 'classless' come to mind here? It does for me. I know me, and I suspect I would have reacted the same way as the narrator did. I cannot imagine that this newly pregnant woman is going to be able to share the important things with her child, such as empathy for others, caring, feeling, and making sure you know how to help others. That it's not always just about you. Children obviously know it IS all about them. But adults? They should know better.

"It's not about any of us. We're not the story."

Ann Althouse said...

EDH writes:

The SIL reminds me of the repetitious "where's my fiancee?" lady from Seinfeld.

I said loudly to my sil “no gives a fuck you’re pregnant look around it’s not just one but two babies funerals not to mention the love of Mary’s life like I knew you were an attention seeker but for fuck sake you took the test four days ago just leave.”

The NTA should have used a pithier, inscrutable put-down like Elaine's retort: "Maybe the Dingo ate your baby."

Ann Althouse said...

Jim writes:

"On the AITA I am reminded of the old saying - a bride at every wedding, the corpse at every funeral. Supposedly from Alice Roosevelt talking about her father, TR."